After 2022, Where Did Samira Gutoc Go? The Girl from Marawi Looks Toward 2028

For many Filipinos, the last vivid memory of Samira Gutoc may still be from the 2022 elections.

She was the lone woman among the senatorial candidates of Aksyon Demokratiko, campaigning alongside then-presidential candidate Isko Moreno and vice-presidential candidate Dr. Willie Ong. Gutoc did not win a Senate seat, and after the election, she largely disappeared from the attention of mainstream national politics.

But she did not disappear from public service.

I met Samira again on September 8 at bai Hotel Cebu, our first meeting since the 2022 campaign and, according to her, her first time back in Cebu since that election. What I found was a Samira Gutoc who remains very much on the move; only this time, much of her work is happening away from election stages.

From Senate candidate to working inside the Senate

Perhaps the most interesting development after 2022 is that Gutoc eventually found herself working inside the institution she twice tried to enter through elections.

She is currently identified as Director III for Muslim Affairs in the Office of Senator Robinhood Padilla. A January 2026 Bureau of Corrections report formally identified her in that position, while the Philippine Information Agency has documented her representing Padilla’s office in initiatives involving the country’s halal economy.

It is an interesting political turn.

Gutoc ran with the Liberal Party-backed Otso Diretso slate in 2019 before joining Aksyon Demokratiko in 2021 and running with Isko Moreno in 2022. Rappler’s 2022 candidate profile described her as a former ARMM legislator, Bangsamoro Transition Commission member and civic leader.

Today, however, her work seems less defined by partisan labels and more by the causes that have followed her throughout her career: Muslim representation, peace, women, displaced communities and social inclusion.

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies also identifies her as chair of Ako Bakwit, an organization she co-founded to advocate for internally displaced persons.

In other words, losing an election did not end her public life. It simply changed its form.

Why Samira returned to Cebu

Our conversation in Cebu was not primarily about politics.

Gutoc said she was visiting local mayors as part of her advocacy on mental health awareness and post-crisis support, particularly amid concerns involving students and school communities. She has also been pushing issues affecting senior citizens.

Mental health has become an increasingly visible part of her recent advocacy. In an August 2026 column titled Discussing depression, Gutoc wrote candidly about the psychological pressure she herself experienced while running for the Senate and argued for stronger mental-health programs in schools, correctional facilities and government institutions. She cited the need for proper implementation and funding instead of treating mental health as merely a slogan.

The issue is particularly timely in Cebu. Mandaue City, for example, is launching its own mental-health hotline this September to provide residents with access to trained personnel and referrals for further intervention.

During our meeting, Samira also sent her greetings and prayers to Doc Willie and Doc Liza Ong.

It was a small but meaningful reminder of the relationships formed during the 2022 campaign.

Still watching Isko

Naturally, our conversation also returned to another familiar name from 2022: Isko Moreno.

Gutoc spoke positively about how Isko has been doing since returning as mayor of Manila. There was none of the bitterness one might expect from people looking back at a losing national campaign.

Instead, she expressed gratitude.

She thanked me and the people who supported her in 2022.

That matters because electoral defeats can easily reduce candidates into forgotten names on an old ballot. Gutoc, however, appears to view the campaign as another chapter of advocacy rather than the conclusion of it.

And then I asked about 2028.

Will Samira Gutoc run for senator again?

Her answer was neither a declaration nor a refusal.

She said she would pray about the 2028 elections and would gladly run again if an opportunity opened.

That distinction is important.

As of now, Gutoc is not announcing a 2028 Senate candidacy. There is no campaign launch and no confirmed slate.

But the door is clearly not closed.

One factor she mentioned was representation. Looking back at her experience in political slates, she has often found herself as the woman standing among predominantly male senatorial candidates.

That appears to remain important to her.

Gender representation has always been intertwined with Gutoc’s public career. Before becoming nationally known as a senatorial candidate, she represented the women’s sector in the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Regional Legislative Assembly and worked on women, peace and security issues.

So another Senate campaign would not simply be about trying for a third time. For Gutoc, it would also be about placing another woman, and particularly a Muslim woman from Mindanao, inside a national political arena still heavily dominated by men.

Whether that opportunity materializes in 2028 remains to be seen.

The Girl from Marawi never really left

Gutoc still writes from the perspective that made her nationally recognizable in the first place.

In her September 2026 column From rebels to candidates, she reflected on the coming BARMM parliamentary elections, the 30th anniversary of the 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front and the long transition of Moro political struggle from armed conflict toward democratic institutions.

The first regular BARMM parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 14, another historic stage in that transition. The national government and the MILF are also continuing work on the remaining political and normalization commitments under the peace agreement.

These subjects bring Gutoc back to the identity many people first knew her for: the Girl from Marawi.

But the girl from Marawi is now in her early 50’s, has survived two national campaigns, worked across different political alliances, lived through the Marawi crisis, advocated for displaced families, entered the Senate as a policy professional rather than an elected senator, and continues moving from one community and advocacy to another.

Her political journey has not followed a straight line.

Perhaps that is precisely the point.

When I met Samira again in Cebu four years after the 2022 election, she did not look like someone waiting around for the next campaign season. She was already working. And when 2028 comes?

For now, Samira Gutoc is leaving that question to opportunity. And, as she told me, to prayer.